Fritz Pollard: Pioneer in Racial Advancement
By: John M. Carroll / Narrated By: JD Jackson
Length: 11 hrs and 47 mins
The man’s story is sooo good, sooo inspiring…!
Man, there is just far too little written about Blacks making History; so little is known—far too little was documented, not even from the Black press at the time Pollard was blazing trails and making history. As such, Fritz Pollard has to rely on accounts of his exploits on the field from white newspapers which graphically show the racist attitudes and beliefs of the day (I say this as tho’ things have changed so much… >sigh<…). Witness: Pollard’s amazing speed and agility has him portrayed as the Greek god Mercury. Wonderful! Except? The cartoon depicts Pollard with outrageously large lips, incredibly kinky hair.
Which is how this biography of Fritz Pollard is gathered, written, and given to the reader/listener. All things, all achievements of the man are weighed against what he was up against at the time. First it starts with the expectations of high achievement from his family. Slaves at one time, ancestors were freed after the Revolutionary War, fought for the Union in the Civil War, went on to live ostensibly affluent (Again, within context) lives. Education was seen as key and was demanded in the Pollard family, tho’ Fritz’s father taught each of his sons skills to work as barbers should they ever need to fall back on something. -But- there was, quite simply, the assumption, backed up by harsh discipline, that each of the Pollard children would excel in the classroom, on the playing fields for a variety of sports, even in music.
And Fritz and his sisters and brothers were taught all of this through the lens of dealing with white society. One excelled, yes, but one did not shine too brightly lest it bring condemnation and violence about. One need only look at what was happening to Jack Johnson, the first Negro to become world heavyweight champion—a man who lived his life in what was considered to be too flamboyant a manner for whites to accept, esPECially given his relationships with (very consenting) white women. Johnson was forced into exile, then later incarcerated.
Which could make for a bleak sorta Listen, were it not for the fact that Pollard as presented is shown to have still lived a life full of blazing glory, was a charmer with the ladies (Much to the despair of his long-suffering wife), was quite the fashion-plate, and later somewhat aggressively promoted Negro athletes, sought exposure, sought acceptance for exceptional skills. Where once he himself had (With MANY challenges) been accepted as a player and a coach, the years following in professional sports would see a “gentleman’s agreement” whereby Black players would not be accepted at all and would be relegated to segregated Negro leagues in an increasingly hostile environment.
Fritz? He challenged all this, challenged his players to go against all-white teams, proving that his players were not only of equal worth but had amazing skills.
All this is narrated by JD Jackson who, tho’ a stellar talent, sometimes falters in his delivery. Fritz Pollard has author John M. Carroll doing a lot of: “It can be speculated that…,” and “This can lead to the conclusion that…,” and “It might be conferred that…” due to the paucity of documentation of Negro athletes of the time. Carroll relies heavily on interviews with surviving family members and extrapolates from there. So things can be a bit of blah blah fact-given-then-extrapolation blah. Jackson is able to jazz things up when we’re given exciting football games and challenges faced, but there’s only so much the man can do with suppositions given. Still, would I listen to the man again? Dude! it’s JD Jackson, and he makes the play-by-plays of Fritz’s electrifying gridiron feats, his headlong audacious assaults against racism, his ability to keep on going even after failures of post-sports ventures, downright inspirational.
Fritz Pollard achieved sooo much in his lifetime at the turn of the 20th century (An All-American pick whilst playing football for Brown, the first Black quarterback in the NFL, the first Black head coach in the NFL, a champion of Black sports athletes during a time of increasing racial tension and animosity), but he hasn’t been given his due. The man was THE Jackie Robinson of the NFL, loooong before Jackie Robinson’s star rose in Major League Baseball.
He SHOULD be held in the highest regard. That he was passed over for acceptance in the Pro Football Hall of Fame over FORTY times?
Well… at least that was rectified with his acceptance in 2005…
…oh so posthumously…
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